


Crossed Paths

by ApatheticWench



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Memory Loss, Older Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-08-21 23:20:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8264177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApatheticWench/pseuds/ApatheticWench
Summary: "Two elderly men in a nursing home exchange life stories. They slowly come to realize they are by no means strangers. Their paths have crossed before."





	

**Author's Note:**

> J.K. Rowling owns all characters.

"I don't remember anything except for his voice. His face, his body, his smile, I can't remember any of those things. But I like to think I'd recognize him if I ever meet him again. I have these memories, of the two of us, but I can never put a face to the voice. He's just a blur. I've tried to get the doctors to find him, to bring him to me, but they never listen. Instead they gave me a roommate. 'You need something stable,' they say. But I'd be stable if they found him. If they brought him to me. I want him."

"How would you know if they brought him? You're a senile old coot."

"Maybe he'd remember me."

"Perhaps. Tell me about him. About your story."

"My story?"

"Yes. How you fell in love. Your story."

"He was a teacher, I remember. A bloody good one, too. I was a teacher, or maybe I was something else, I don't know. Can't remember. But we both lived at the school. A boarding school, it was. He used to watch me from the window and I used to look up at him from the lake. I think he was beautiful." 

"I used to watch someone from a window."

"Maybe I was looking at you, then."

"Perhaps. Carry on."

"So he would watch me, and one day I motioned for him to come down with me. And you know what? He actually did it. It was a bloody shock to me, too, considering he was the type of man who didn't do things unless he absolutely wanted to."

"He wished to sit with you, it seems."

"Yes. We sat for well over an hour that day. The first day. We didn't speak words. We didn't need to. There was so much between us that the silence was enough. He would come and sit with me twice a week, if he could manage it. Being a professor took up a lot of his time." 

"I'm sure. Teaching insolent brats is a chore."

"He believed that, too. Hated teaching, he did. But I think he secretly loved it."

"Almost as much as he loved you, I suppose."

"Maybe even more. A few weeks later, he kissed me. Or maybe I kissed him. I don't ever remember that part right. But we kissed and then we went on a few dates. It was a scandal, I think. I remember getting yelled at quite frequently. But I loved him. I love him."

"Howlers, the nasty buggers. I received them, as well, when I started my own relationship."

"Go on, then. What's your story?"

"I'm afraid much of it has left me."

"I'm sure there's enough."

"We used to stare at the stars. I remember I would finish my grading and the two of us would go outside and just stare. Much like you, we didn't need conversation to keep our relationship alive. The love that flowed through us was unmistakable."

"What happened, then?"

"A car accident. It's about the only thing I remember vividly anymore. I was driving and a drunk driver blew a red light. My memory hasn't been the same since and I doubt his has, either."

"You haven't seen him, then? Your man?"

"No. Not since the accident. I woke with no recollection as did he. We were separated almost immediately."

"I never even got to see him."

"Nor did I."

"I never did catch your name, sir."

"Snape. Severus Snape."

"Severus? That sounds familiar. Almost as if-"

"Harry."

"Oh, it is you, then, isn't it? They've brought you to me."

"It seems they have, yes."

"Then I don't suppose you would be too ill with the idea of spending the rest of your short days with me, eh?"

"I believe that wouldn't be too terrible."

"Oi, Severus."

"What?"

"I may not know you now, but I remember that I do love you."

"And I you."


End file.
